More Moon

Lunar meditations that have me shivering at the modest repetition of the word "more" and thrilled that intimations of mortality provide occasions for such eloquence along the slippery spine of syntax.

Because, once looked at lit
By the cold reflections of the dead
Risen extinct but irresistible,
Our lives have never seemed more full, more real,
Nor the full moon more quick to chill.

James Merrill. "Voices from the Other World" in The Country of A Thousand Years of Peace.

And so for day 291
01.10.2007